Buddhabhadra (translator)

Part of a series on
Buddhism

Outline · Portal

History
Timeline · Councils
Gautama Buddha
Later Buddhists

Dharma or concepts

Four Noble Truths
Five Aggregates
Impermanence
Suffering · Non-self
Dependent Origination
Middle Way · Emptiness
Karma · Rebirth
Samsara · Cosmology

Practices

Three Jewels
Noble Eightfold Path
Morality · Perfections
Meditation · Mindfulness
Wisdom · Compassion
Aids to Enlightenment
Monasticism · Laity

Nirvāṇa
Four Stages · Arahant
Buddha · Bodhisattva

Traditions · Canons
Theravāda · Pali
Mahāyāna · Chinese
Vajrayāna · Tibetan

Buddhabhadra (359-429 CE) was an Indian Buddhist monk, with the title of śramaṇa.[1] He is most known for his prolific translation efforts of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese, and was responsible for the first Chinese translation of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (Flower Ornament Scripture) in the 5th century CE.[2]

Buddhabhadra and his Chinese disciple Xuangao are known to have advocated the twin principles of samadhi (meditative concentration) and prajna (transcendent wisdom). These were later inherited by the Tiantai school of Buddhism, and its patriarchs Huisi and Zhiyi. Buddhabhadra's views in turn stemmed from those of Buddhasena's Dhyāna school in Kashmir, and their meditation manual was translated by Buddhabhadra at behest of Huiyuan, the founder of the Chinese tradition of Pure Land Buddhism. This Indian meditation manual preserved in Taisho Tripitaka 618, and is typically called the Yogacarabhumi Sutra or the Dharmatrata Dhyana Sutra. This text was later prized by the Zen school in China, and parts of its lineage to the Buddha became entangled in sectarian conflicts between factions of Chinese Buddhism.

References

  1. ^ Buddhist records of the Western world
  2. ^ Cleary, Thomas. The Flower Ornament Scripture: a Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. 1984. p. 2